"I still haven't moved one thing out of my office."That was the Rev. Nathaniel Mays two days before he left Brandeis this summer for Lesley University in Cambridge. After a 15-year tour here, in which the 40-year-old Baptist minister never held fewer than two titles, Mays was still at work.

Not concerned with allotting time to move out of his quaint office on the second floor of the Shapiro Campus Center, he wanted to make sure he had time to say goodbye.

"I know a lot of the people," he said, thinking back to his first days on campus. "Just a lot of people to see before I leave."

Mays had served as Protestant chaplain, director of the Intercultural Center (ICC), assistant dean of Student Life and coordinator for Diversity Services.

One of Mays' farewells should have been reserved for Dean of Student Life Rick Sawyer. The two met during Mays' first year here and became close, even before Mays became assistant dean later in his Brandeis career. But Sawyer made an effort not to say goodbye-he said it was too difficult.

Smiling as he waved his finger in the air, Sawyer wanted to make known a certain fact.

"I still have his phone number and I know where he is."



Mays says 'fate' brings him to campus

Mays never intended to work at a university or to one day go to Lesley, with over 10,000 students under his watch. He said that were it not for an intervention of fate, he would never have had the chance "to grow personally and professionally" at Brandeis, thus leading to his new job.

The Texas native was just 24 as he worked to finish his studies at Andover Theological School in Newton. At that time, Brandeis was in the midst of searching for a permanent replacement for the Protestant chaplain, and needed a substitute on a particular Sunday.

Mays received the call to stand in for one service and he accepted. Afterward, a group of students asked him if he would apply for the permanent position.

He thanked them and said no.

The then-Dean of Student Affairs Rod Crafts also asked Mays to apply for the job. But Mays knew he lacked the two main credentials: being ordained and holding a Master's degree. He was working toward both at Andover, but he still had one semester left before graduation.

Crafts told Mays that if he got the job, he could bring his studies to Brandeis and work as much as he could as chaplain until being ordained, then work full-time.

Mays also thanked Crafts and said no.

A few days later, Mays spoke with a priest from his church, who said that, if for nothing else, he should accept the interview for the application experience. Heeding this advice, Mays called Brandeis to make an appointment, not expecting anything to come of it.

"Well, I was finishing my first Master's, so I didn't have that one, and I was in the process of being ordained," Mays said. "So it was a fun day of visiting people and talking that didn't have a major impact on me because I didn't think I was going to get the job."

Mays received a call from Crafts a few weeks later, informing him that the search had been narrowed down to Mays and a professor at Boston University.

"I'm thinking, ordination, Master's degree-I don't have them."

Crafts called Mays one last time.

There were two people in Mays' presence when he answered the call. They asked if somebody had died, based on his morbid facial expression. The stunned Mays said: "No, I just got a job at Brandeis."

He became the Protestant chaplain here in 1989.

Chaplaincy office manager Ellen Afienko met Mays when he came in to be interviewed.

"He stood right here," she said, pointing to the door Mays had walked through 15 years earlier in room 313 of Usdan. "I'll never forget it. He came I and I stood up to shake his hand. He was very warm. I had hoped he would get the job. I guess it came true."

Over the years, Afienko noticed Mays' humbleness. She said that when Mays accomplished something, big or small, he would always turn around and say "I couldn't have done it without you." Tearing up a bit about Mays' departure, she said that at least he will close by in Cambridge.

"He never forgets about the people he's worked with or met, It's just in his nature."



New tasks and responsibilities

Mays' responsibilities mounted as the years progressed. After the person who was hired to serve as ICC Director left Brandeis, Mays filled in that position and served a dual role in 1992.

When Mays began work at the ICC, students would approach him as the director, asking for help with programming issues, and not as chaplain. But he recalled that most conversations turned to religion anyway.

"So I felt this was a wonderful match and that's why I agreed to do it."

Mays even turned down an offer to become assistant dean of Student Life in 1993 to focus on the ICC.

In 1995, the assistant dean position opened up again and this time, Mays was ready for the challenge. From then until 2002 he held three titles-Protestant chaplain, assistant dean of Student Life and ICC director. He said it was "a fun, heavy work load" because he was helping to transform the campus in a positive way.

Current ICC Director Suzie Talukdar was a Brandeis student from 1992 to 1996, when Mays was in charge of the center. She believes his greatest strength was in making students feel comfortable. She recalled how he worked with the Muslim Student Association to always procure a place for Muslims to pray and gather.

"Here you have this Protestant chaplain, and he is being an adviser and ally to our Muslim students on campus," Talukdar said. "Really, if it were not for him and a few dedicated students, I am not sure Muslims on campus would have a place to pray."

Mays relinquished his responsibilities as chaplain and ICC Director to become the coordinator of diversity services in August 2002, after the offensive Men's Room segment on WBRS. After the similarly controversial Dusty Baker incident in the Justice last fall, Mays said he is not fearful similar incidents will occur in the future-he is realistic about the fact that they will occur.

"Most important is conversation, " he said. "You can't really achieve any kind of consent in any kind of community building or relationship building without honest, open communication."

Mays said he was proud to have been part of the discussions between the Justice and the Brandeis Black Student Organization (BBSO). He acknowledged the difficulty of the conversations and is proud that people were "daring and willing enough to be honest." He believes this is how people move past potentially divisive problems within a community.

BBSO President Alana Hamlett '06 said Mays played an instrumental role in helping to foster productive meetings with the Justice. If not for this intervention, she believes the healing process would have been much more difficult.

"I think it was great that he took the first step," she said. "It would have been difficult for each side to do it in a manner that did not look demeaning or didn't look like we were still pointing fingers. It was very much in a neutral setting. I feel like [Mays] was really there for us."

Graduate Student Association President Vanita Neelakanta feels the same way. To her, Mays was also a staunch advocate for graduate students. After cuts in the graduate student activities fee increased last year, she said Mays offered guidance in support of a referendum to obtain more funding.

According to Neelakanta, many graduate students feel they are somewhat "invisible" on campus, and that their needs and interests are sometimes not the administration's top priority. But she said she feels Mays always listened and made graduates feel just as important. "And that is where he will most sorely be missed," she said.

Neelakanta said that every now and again, people dropped the "Reverend" in Mays' title because he became a dean. "But I think he was always a reverend first. That's how he'd like to be remembered here, or really anywhere."

After working at Brandeis for 15 years, Mays said he has gone as far as opportunity allows him here. He realized during the last four years, there was no place for him to "move up" any longer. The challenge then was to look for where all of the different tools he has learned over the years could be put into practice-a place like Lesley.

Mays lives in South Windsor, Conn. with his wife, Norma Sanchez-Figueroa '84 and daughter Daniela. He got his bachelor's degree in religion and philosophy from Bishop College in Dallas. After studying theology at Andover, Mays went on to earn a Ph.D. in education from the University of Connecticut while working at Brandeis.



Saying goodbye

When asked to leave a few words of wisdom for Brandeis, Mays sat back, scratched his chin and pondered for a few moments.

"I don't mean to sound clich," he said, bouncing up from his seat as if the correct answer had just come to him. "But to really contemplate what it means when we say 'Truth, even to its innermost parts.' And that is on every level. And that is to freedom in the classroom, to teach and to learn. On the social level, it means being truthful when talking about social and personal issues. Administratively, it means really understanding what we are trying to do when we live in a community here."

Mays acknowledged the campus is more diverse than it was in the past. Yet as far as the larger community is concerned, he questioned if Brandeis feels like home for everyone.

Mays believes Brandeis is heading in the right directions. He praised University President Jehuda Reinharz for further improving Brandeis by always listening to those around him.

"[Reinharz] has always gone out of his way to ask me questions or to get advice, or whatever the case may be," Mays said.

Now, the search is on to find somebody to fill Mays' position this year and Sawyer said it will not be an easy task.

"People have to remember that Nathaniel was a very unique person. He just sort of grew all of these responsibilities and skills. It's not as if we can simply replace him with someone else.